"Even when the rainbow seems to pass right by me....I'm still finding Gold in the clouds....."

28 August 2016

2016 Book Review #54: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

 

This is the third book in the Harry Potter series so I now have only 4 to go!  Plus the play that I believe just came out.

I really enjoyed this one better than the 2nd one.

STORY SUMMARY

Harry and his best friends Ron and Hermione are about to start their third year at the Hogwarts School.  However, Harry has been told by headmaster Dumbledore that he cannot leave the grounds to go to the village of Hogsmeade on the weekends like his chums because there is a prisoner on the loose and the professors all believe that this prisoner, known as Sirius Black and a friend of the Dark Lord Voldemort, wants to kill Harry!!

Sirius Black was convicted of killing 13 people!  All with a single curse, and he is said to be the heir apparent to Voldemort.  When he broke out of Azkaban, he left two clues and they both point to him heading towards Harry Potter!

He wants revenge on Harry because Harry defeated Voldemort.  And all of the Azkaban guards had heard Sirius muttering in his sleep "he's at Hogwarts".

Not only isn't Harry really safe at the school as Sirius was actually seen there, but they soon discover that there is a traitor among them!!

Who is it??

What will happen to Harry...Will Sirius Black ever get caught or will he find Harry and kill him??

MY THOUGHTS

Well, I figured since there are 7 of these fantasy books, that Sirius Black would NOT kill Harry and of course these books are all about good conquering evil...and the light vs the dark.

Once again, the author doesn't disappoint.  She does a fantastic job of filling in the reader with some of the backstory of Harry and his friends.  And she introduces yet more characters which can sometimes be difficult to keep track of but she makes it work.  I found my self cheering for the Gryfinndor team during their Quidditch match against the Slytherins, and I found my self upset about events leading up to Hagrid and his pet....I won't go into detail as I don't want to spoil anything.  

The author has an excellent style of keeping you interested and thinking you have figured things out when wham!!  She throws in these plot twists and it really makes the story more exciting at the point when it sometimes seems to drag.  At one point half way through the book I thought I had figured things out and I kept telling my daughters it was starting to get boring...not much was really happening...it read like it was just "fluff" then all of sudden the plot took that twist and I was enchanted all over again.

I loved that she threw in a twist towards the end of the book, too.....something that I didn't see coming at all......and that is what makes these books far from boring or predictable.

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 9 and older.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.




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